This bloodshed, moreover, is not the inevitable product of ancient hatreds. It is the predictable consequence of a failure to ensure basic security and, equally important, of a conscious strategy by al-Qaeda and Iran, which have systematically aimed to undermine Iraq's fragile political center. By ruthlessly attacking the Shiites in particular over the past three years, al-Qaeda has sought to provoke precisely the dynamic of reciprocal violence that threatens to consume the country.

(snip)

To turn around the crisis we need to send more American troops while we also train more Iraqi troops and strengthen the moderate political forces in the national government. After speaking with our military commanders and soldiers there, I strongly believe that additional U.S. troops must be deployed to Baghdad and Anbar province -- an increase that will at last allow us to establish security throughout the Iraqi capital, hold critical central neighborhoods in the city, clamp down on the insurgency and defeat al-Qaeda in that province.

(snip)

More U.S. forces might not be a guarantee of success in this fight, but they are certainly its prerequisite. Just as the continuing carnage in Baghdad empowers extremists on all sides, establishing security there will open possibilities for compromise and cooperation on the Iraqi political front -- possibilities that simply do not exist today because of the fear gripping all sides.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

First, reports have said over and over that al-Qaeda is a relatively small factor in the violence.

Second, the generals are saying it's not about sending more troops.

Third, isn't this argument quite circular? It sounds to me like: "The reason there's no security is that there's no security. Once we get security, then things will be secure, and THEN a political solution can work." It's the cart before the horse!! Only a political resolution will enable security. This constant focus on the military side has PROVEN to be wrong, yet people continue to see it with the same myopic distortion.

It is easier to send more unwilling troops than to plan for a political solution or to withdraw, see more violence, and take the blame. When have the bushes ever successfully completed or developed a political solution to anything? They use politics as a weapon not as a negotiation strategy. All they know is how lie cheat and steal in politics. You can't get peace that way.

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